Extension-Prone Agencies And GMs

Some agencies are more open to multiyear extensions for their clients than others. The Boras Corporation is notorious for avoiding such deals. In the last three years, only Boras clients Carlos Gonzalez and Jered Weaver signed significant extensions, with Prince Fielder and Stephen Drew signing two-year deals covering arbitration years. Certainly the agency's number of clients will correlate to its volume of extensions, and unfortunately I don't have the complete data needed to give a percentage of clients extended. Using MLBTR's Transaction Tracker, these agencies have brokered the most extensions since the beginning of 2009:

White Sox GM Kenny Williams and CAA Sports appear high on both lists, so perhaps John Danks' recent deal shouldn't have been a surprise. Carlos Quentin is another CAA client. Ned Colletti, Andre Ethier, and CAA make another good combination. Also on the CAA front, I wonder if Alex Anthopoulos has broached an extension for Brett Lawrie. The Cubs' Matt Garza is another name to consider here.

What is the definition of an “extension” being used here? Any multiyear contract signed before free agency? It seems to me that a two-year contract covering two arbitration years is a fundamentally different contract than a longer term one, potentially covering free agent years.

I think a “long term extension” should at the very least cover all the arbitration years and preferably, it would buy out a FA year or 2. Rays are known for that, they like to have 2 or 3 option years that cover FA years.

That’s right, any multiyear contract signed before free agency (though not necessarily with less than six years service). Without a doubt there are nuanced types of extensions, though we will see all of them in the next few months.

Does it change the numbers much if you only count extensions covering (either guaranteed or option years) free agent years? I am assuming it doesn’t, but it may give a more accurate representation of the agents/teams who are most likely to value guaranteed money now vs. projected future earnings.

With that definition, it would seem that the Yankees would be almost completely unrepresented on this list, as their stated organizational policy is not to negotiate extensions until free agency. CC Sabathia and Robinson Cano are the only exceptions that come to mind. Even Jeter and Posada were allowed to have their contracts expire before renegotiating. I take it their contracts do not count as extensions?